From Out of the Recycling Bin: Fred Flintstone & Friends (1977)

Hanna-Barbera, spurred by the success WPIX in New York was having with a checkerboard Fun World weekday block (previously reviewed) that put some of their less successful series in a nice package decided to do the same themselves with Fred Flintstone & Friends, which aired in the Big Apple not on WPIX, but WNEW (now WNYW) weekday mornings.

Unfortunately, the intro we know is not available. There is a slightly altered one on YouTube, but that's not of use to us. We do know the lineup, though, and each of the component series have also been reviewed previously.

For starters, there would be Pebbles & Bamm-Bamm (1971), with Sally Struthers (All in The Family) as Pebbles, and Jay North (ex-Dennis The Menace, Here Comes The Grump, Maya) as Bamm-Bamm.



For what it's worth, comedienne Mitzi McCall was cast as Penny, who looked like she could've been a distant relative of Bamm-Bamm's adoptive mother, Betty Rubble.

From the freshman class of 1974, we have Partridge Family 2200 A. D., which lost Susan Dey (Laurie) after just 2 weeks, replaced by Sherry Alberoni (Super Friends, ex- Josie & The Pussycats, Mickey Mouse Club). Danny Bonaduce, Brian Forster, and Suzanne Crough had previously been, along with Dey, on Goober & The Ghost Chasers.

Well, here's the Partridges:



And Goober:



Rounding out the rotation were two more series from the class of 1973. First, there's Yogi's Gang:



And, then, there's Jeannie, which isn't really a prequel to I Dream of Jeannie, though Sony currently owns the rights. Impressionist Julie McWhirter voices Jeannie, whose master in this series is teenager Cory Anders (Mark Hamill, who also sings the title song).



Each series' episodes were split into two parts to fit the half hour format. This was also the last series in which Alan Reed was the voice of Fred Flintstone, who served as the series host, before his passing. It's widely believed that Henry Corden officially took over with a Flintstone holiday special three months after the anthology block launched.

Unfortunately, Fred Flintstone & Friends didn't have any extra staying power than its components, as it lasted about a year or two in this form before the component series were all consigned to limbo for a few years. Watching this gave me a chance---finally---to see the shows that had been blacked out in the home market initially (i.e. Jeannie) due to affiliate disinterest.

Rating: B+.